Welcome to my pond - Swim, wade, or sit on the bank

[shawluvsbirds]

I have to admit a little tear of happiness rolled down my check looking at such a little doll.Knowing she is yours makes me happy for you

Had a freind tell me once years ago about a yet to meet neighbor, He is just like you at home where ever you are .Just as at home in a tux as in jeans .If you aren't comfortable in your own skin .Then you can't be comfortable anywhere.
I am so thankful for social lubercants .
Yea but you spelled but wrong so nobody noticed. Al's religion has beautiful robes.Corse can't compare to a good ole mass river dunking of a ole time sourthern Baptist sole saving .

I have been called many things. But never a social lubricant.
I sure hope I'm the warming kind and not the oily residue leaving kind.

 

[chickisoup]

I generally find a corner and go off to another realm. My daughter once told me, "Dad, you can make yourself alone in a room of people who love you." She's right. Alcohol used to make people more bearable, but I no longer use that crutch. I'm just not big on small talk. Here my fingers can do the talking.

We would be easy to spot in a crowded party. You would be in one corner (probably with a window to stare out of) and I would be in the other corner. Unless I looked out the window and saw animals. Then I would be the one outside with the animals.

 

[chickisoup]

Wow Al!!! Great pics again! I am a bit disappointed, I was looking forward to some wonderful Christmas pics. At least you'll have a proper Christmas service. What day do you celebrate?
BTW-I just picked up a copy of the Orthodox study Bible, NKJ version. Unfortunately it's just NT and Psalms so I still need to locate the OT.

 

[BYC910]

Good evening near on bed time .I need to do a couple of things before turning in. Grandkids got school christmas pageant in the morning .Papa is expected to be there .Hope Ben goes along with the plan. Bit of a problem grandparents day .Abby filled a paper about grandmother a grandfather She said my grandpa is a farmer his favorite color is blue ,and he is aiways saying What now? My grandma is good at cutting grass and working ..Well everybody knows my fovartite color is money green. Being her adopted grandparents .Her other grandparents ,her real grandperents where there.Her grandmother chewed my DIL out over not getting a paper too.

 

[perchie.girl]

Sadly.... our vacationing priest is back with his family in ....uh.... someplace hot. He is an older retired priest, and comes up to take care of us for 6 weeks at a time, then goes back to his wife and grandchildren for about 6 weeks... then repeat.

He just left us last Monday, so we have no priest until Christmas, we will fly one in to do the services on Christmas, then he flies right back out.

Such is life.... still nice though. Because we have no priest this Sunday, the service we do will be different, it is called a Reader's Service, since we will still be doing the many readings, and lots of singing, just no priest stuff. I actually like having a Reader's Service on occasion, since some of the songs are very nice, and not done at the full service with a priest. Also, I get to sleep in another hour.

So.... I don't think there will be any cool photos until Christmas....

BUT, when advent started (the fast that leads up to Christmas), everything changes colors in the church to the red/crimson of advent. My eldest got crimson vestments, and got to wear them for the first time on the first Sunday of advent. And... I got a great photo of him.

Eldest:
View attachment 1984833

And here, at the beginning of a very early service, eldest and youngest up at the chantor stand.
View attachment 1984832

Is that youngest BAREFOOT??

 

[pennyJo1960]

I assumed he was as to honor Christ was I right or wrong there

 

[room onthebroom]

Her grandmother chewed my DIL out over not getting a paper too.

Oh geeze! Sounds like something my mother would do. I hope you get to see this one. Have DW Video it Incase you have to wait in the car again.

Is that youngest BAREFOOT??

Barefoot & peeing off the porch... Those boys are living the good life!!!

 

[Akrnaf2]

put me into that corner and I am happy... Talking to anyone who wants to talk to me... Not a small talker dont know how.... Gimme a subject though and I will bore you to tears....

deb

I can talk to anyone about everything ( and I think that I love to talk I am doing a good living from it )

 

[pennyJo1960]

Good more than just me then

 

[Alaskan]

Al is #1 still going to pursue priest school? It would be cool to have him at your parish (is that the right word?)?

Yep.. eldest still wants to be a priest... he wants to try to get a college degree first.. and is moving very slowly through that.. .

And priest school works fine, or you can say seminary, same thing.

Wow Al!!! Great pics again! I am a bit disappointed, I was looking forward to some wonderful Christmas pics. At least you'll have a proper Christmas service. What day do you celebrate?
BTW-I just picked up a copy of the Orthodox study Bible, NKJ version. Unfortunately it's just NT and Psalms so I still need to locate the OT.

The church I go to is new calendar... so we are with the rest of you all. But, most Orthodox churches in Alaska are old calendar so 13 days after us.

That book you got is a great choice.

To be honest... lately I have not been reading from my many excellent books. instead, when I want to do bible reading I have been using the smart phone app Catena. You can set it to "Byzantine Theology" (which is Orthodox) and wow is it fun. On every single bible passage you can click and all of these commentaries pop up. Some of the commentaries are from the year 200 or 300 or what have you. Pretty cool. It is fun to see so many commentaries. In the book, Orthodox study bible, they just can't squeeze in as many commentaries.

But the bible translation used in Catena isn't the exact same that we use...so it is a few books short. The old testament that we use is the Septuagent, or "of the 70".

Is that youngest BAREFOOT??

Yep!

I assumed he was as to honor Christ was I right or wrong there

In the oriental Orthodox churches(so Coptic, Ethiopian, Eritrean, etc), it is standard to enter church barefoot... like moses at the burning bush removed his shoes. When the kids and I were researching the died out Celtic Orthodox, we found out that they also removed their shoes. It is one thing to be barefoot in Egypt! But in Scotland??!?!?! Anyway, we were highly impressed. The kids already often went to church barefoot (as you know, standard practice in Alaska to take off nasty shoes when entering a house), but when we read that about the ancient church in Britain, my youngest thought that was the coolest thing ever... and he is named after a Celtic saint... so there ya go! He now refuses to enter the church with shoes! I think it is cool.